STILL NIGHT SONG

Tribute to eight Malawians including VEEP SKC who perished in a military plane crash on 10th June, 2024 in Chikangawa Forest of northern Malawi.

We now 'knowest' and we’re the most gratified that

On that poignant foggy Monday morning hour and

In the still of the frosty night that was to follow

You had chosen to directly turn stay not because

You were afraid of the gloomy nightfall that was to hang

Over the secluded slopes of the harsh Chikangawa hills

Which were to get plagued by the lifeless countrymen,

The metal fragments and all manner of the man-mades;

Rather, because you feared not the nippy

Night of yester that was to yet again reign

And even though your outfits in the pitiless chill were to

Be toned, tanned, torn apart and your limbs shattered…

Stay you remained, and in the eternal-most conduct praying onto

The most powerful and the most merciful Deity you carried on

All the while in total somberness above the scene your souls

Hovered, whereupon like the grief-stricken buffaloes whose

Their own had fallen into the jaws of the hungry pride of lions, just for

You dear ones eager to rescue we turned up; only this sad song to hail.

Author's Note

Nine stanzas, one each for the nine. Please, note that none of these couplets is standalone, signifying the connectedness of the souls of the victims who are presumed to had all died instantly on impact [at an exact single point in time].